Pronouncements from the King of Gnomes!

Gnome

There are a lot of gnome minions in Hearthstone, 51 as of Frozen Throne. In the 6 expansions that have released some patterns have emerged. Gnomes primarily put cards in your hand, either directly like the Gnomish Inventor, or indirectly like Wilford Fizzlebang.

This seems to be the niche gnomes fill in Hearthstone as a whole. I’m kinda sad that Northshire Cleric is not a gnome card since it is probably the most common Draw card used. 13 of the 51 Gnomes in the game put or, facilitate putting, cards in your hand. In fact the “Spare Parts” mechanic added in the Goblins vs Gnomes expansion is NOT found on any of the goblin cards in that set. This reinforces the gnome roll in gaining cards. I am most impressed with new Gnomeferatu card, which basically has you draw a card from your opponent’s deck and then discard it. It’s exactly what you would expect from a gnome parasite.

History of the race was clear enough. We have deep history stories about elves and dwarves, but not much about gnomes.

When I say Gnomeregan’s Status, I feel like that was a lot more narrow than what it could have been. What gnomes really want to see is a normal functioning gnome society. All the gnome outposts, including New Tinkertown are places that have been throw together in a hurry by refugees. We want to see what gnomes look like at their best, when they’ve had time to apply themselves and build a stable society.

Gnome adventures means gnome heroes. We need more gnomes that gnome player can comfortably emulate. An example of what a paragon of gnomish-ness looks like when filter through the lens of class, spec, or any profession OTHER THAN engineering. Gnomes that remind us that even though we don’t have a city, we do still fit in on Azeroth.

Gnomes are not superstitious. In a world with arcane magic, divine power, and interdimensional beings, these things are as natural as gravity, magnets, and electricity. Gnomeregan lacks the mythological origin stories that other cultures use to inform themselves who they are. For gnomes <unknown> is a valid answer until some mechanism that explains a phenomenon is demonstrated.

Gnome Philosophy struggles with different questions than other cultures. This is primarily due to the fact gnomes want to understand how things work so that those properties can be harnessed to some effect. Do origins matter? Dwarves are very concerned with their origins, but gnomes are not, because that information does not provide much insight about how things currently function. This peels back a layer and lets us see deeper into gnome philosophy. “How” is a much more important question to gnomes than “Why” is.

Physics, medicine, and chemistry and the very common and well developed schools of thought in Gnomeregan. They are things things that can be measured and applied in the physical world. The tricky things that gnomes grapple with are morality, aesthetics, and the nature of existence. Things that are innately abstract and don’t have obvious immediate application languish on the margins of gnomish disciplines. Their philosophy is less about acquiring wisdom for understanding and more about attaining knowledge to achieve goals.

There is a Micro and Macro aspect to gnome individualism. On the micro level is an individual gnome, made of of all of his or her physical parts, education, experiences, and expertise. All these parts come together to form a complex being that can accomplish amazing feats. Alone a gnome can create amazing things. These creations are then seen as an extension of the self though intellect and craftsmanship.

Every individual gnome is expected to bring their best to any situation. Any job that is necessary is important. This leads into their macro views. Just like each gnome is made of smaller parts themselves, on the macro scale, each gnome is a small piece of a larger community. This is one of the reasons gnomes don’t make many demands of the Alliance. In their expandable views of the self, any success of the Alliance is a success for gnomes as a part of the Alliance.

Gnomish thought-leaders come in all types. Gnomes that take on the roles of priest are not leading fields outside their role, however, they are important sounding boards for all gnomes no matter what the disciple. If a gnome gets too involved in their own personal goals, it’s the job of a gnome philosopher to remind them that they have responsibilities and that their actions have impacts beyond themselves. On the same note, they also guide gnomes that have lost focus and overextend themselves.

When soliciting feedback on ideas it’s also important to get multiple perspectives. There are gnomes that specialize in positive encouragement. Acting as a confidants, these optimists believe that there is a good idea at the core of any concept, and that it must be nurtured to realize it’s maximum potential. Other gnomes are skeptical, asking many questions about how the idea is going to be brought to fruition. It’s not that they are trying to discourage new ideas. Instead they want to make sure that the idea has been considered in depth before resources are spent trying to make it happen. Finally there are nay-saying cynics. Gnomes that offer this kind of feedback tend to focus more on the applications of ideas and the motivations for implementing them more than the feasibility of the idea itself.

Gnomeregan credits a lot of it’s strength to the fact that all citizens have a door that is always open, a gnome to talk to about any idea and work through and explore the merits and drawbacks of all potential ideas.

Most gnomes don’t think much about the afterlife. Attempts to contact and study those that have passed on generally yields inconclusive results, with one exception: Ghosts.

Ghost are real, as is the shadowlands. They can be interacted with and examined through sciomancy. At one time this lead to the formation of a group of gnomes who believed becoming a ghost was the only hope of an afterlife. (If not the ONLY hope, at least it was preferable to reintegration with the environment or oblivion.) These gnomes became Sciomancers of the highest caliber. Able to contact and control the spirits of the dead, and even enter the shadowlands.

While Gnomeregan had no official laws against Necromancy or Shadow magic at the time, the group was still looked down upon and outcast. Most of these Scimomancers went north to Lordaeron to study at the school that became Scholomance, and were lost to the scourge.

There are some really cool language names in Warcraft. Names that are informed by the history and culture of the races they represent. [Zandali](Troll) hints at the origins of their race. [Ravenspeak](Arakkoa) seems to be based on their religion. Personally, I liked [Gutterspeak](Forsaken), but I understand why people didn’t like it. Other names that I really like are [Kalimag](Elemental), [Nerglish](Murloc), and [Taur-ahe](Tauren).

Lots of languages are just mirrors or slight modifications of the race name. All of those could benefit from something more interesting.
I get that having the name of the language match the name of the race makes things simpler, but having the name of the race in brackets afterward accomplishes the same thing.

In the real world most languages are named after the region they come from. In fantasy, most members of a race come from the same area, but on Azeroth that is not as true. Humans have seven kingdoms that have been separate for a little over 1,200 years. These kingdoms were in frequent contact with each other, but it can take as little as 500 years for different regions to evolve their own full languages. Humans should not speak [Common] at all. If there is a common language shared between all humans it would like Latin, an ‘extinct’ language used for formal treaties and documents that apply to more than one human nation. Maybe the language or Arathor could be used that way. The individual city states or Lordearon, Dalaran, Gilneas, Kul Tiras, and Stormwind would each have their own regional languages that developed naturally over time based on common usage of everyday people. This is especially true for Stormwind given the fact it is more geographically isolated from the other human kingdoms. I would expect there to be three dwarven languages as well for these same reasons.

Each Tauren and Orc tribe should have their own language, or at the very least their own dialect. Not just because of geographic isolation, but as a cultural marker of each tribes identity.

Undead are a very interesting exception, because it would seem that being animated imbues the newly raised individual with knowledge of a language not shared by the living.

Pandaren on the Wandering Isle most likely would have a different language from those that stayed on mainland Pandaria, but certainly not from each other based on philosophical differences taught at the one school on the island. The region is too small for them to not speak to each other fluently. It’s very unlikely two separate languages could survive in such a small community.

There is one race that gets it right: Elves. [Thalassian] is a dialect of [Darnassian]. (Although, why the language is named after a location that is literally thousands of years younger than it’s self is beyond me.) A longer lived race would have less variation over time than shorter lived ones.

[Draenei] has probably not changed from what was spoken on Argus, because there are draenei from Argus still alive. Meanwhile [Eredun](A.K.A. [Demonic]) despite not changing in its name from what it was called on Argus, has probably changed each time the Legion assimilated another race in to its ranks. Leading to [Eredun](Demonic) being very different from [Draenei] despite the fact that [Draenei] is probably almost identical to [Eredun](Argus).

My campaign has been quietly working behind the scenes for a couple months now, and we are ready for a big announcement! After careful consideration of many fine and talented gnomes, I have come to a final decision about my running mate.

I am proud to welcome Gearmaster Mechazod to the ticket! Mechazod brings tens of thousands of years of experience to the team, both dealing with everything from mundane maintenance matters and incredibly important cosmic scale matters that are beyond mortal comprehension. We are very lucky to have him here with us*.

I’m sure you will all agree that he is the perfect complement to what we have going, and our vision for Gnomeregan’s future!